In recent years, the usage of mobile computing devices and mobile communication devices has increased in terms of numbers of users and in terms of frequency of use. Furthermore, some consumers today have migrated or upgraded from using feature phones that may support only voice calls and/or text messaging functions to using smart phones that may use one or more data connections and/or one or more voice connections to provide users with various functions such as text messaging, email access, video calling functions, Internet calling features, mapping and/or navigation capabilities, camera and/or video features, application functions, web access, voice calls, combinations thereof, or the like.
With the increased ownership and use of mobile communication devices and mobile computing devices, the usage of various network resources has increased drastically. In particular, some modern mobile device users may access data networks to perform various tasks using web applications and/or stand-alone applications executed by the mobile devices. In response to the increased demand for services, some network providers have increased capacity for data communications and voice communications to support the increasing numbers and usage frequencies associated with these and other devices.
When emergencies occur, consumers may use smartphones and/or other mobile computing devices to respond to or deal with the emergencies. For example, users may use the smartphones or other computing devices to create social networking updates regarding the emergency conditions, to capture and/or share photos or videos relating to the emergency conditions, to receive and/or place phone calls relating to the emergency conditions, to receive and/or send text messages or emails relating to the emergencies, and/or may use the devices for other reasons. When emergency personnel are responding or reacting to the emergency conditions, the use of limited network resources by consumers may prevent emergency communications with a relatively higher priority from being successfully made or completed.